A journalist and a senatorial candidate got into a fight while appearing on a regional television program, trading punches and kicks on the air, Brazilian media reported Wednesday. Former Congressman Joao Correia, who is running for a Senate seat from the Amazonian state of Acre on the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, or PMDB, ticket, was being interviewed Tuesday on TV5 by journalist Demostenes Nascimento when the fight started.
Correia became irritated at Nascimento’s line of questioning and a heated argument started, prompting the show’s director to go to a commercial break. The exchange of insults continued during the break, then the candidate and the reporter began punching and kicking each other. Viewers, however, did not get to see the fight.
Nascimento appeared alone on the air after a few minutes and explained that the show was being interrupted because he had been “assaulted” both “morally and physically.” The host filed a complaint against Correia with police in Rio Branco, the capital of Acre, and received expressions of support from a variety of professional organizations.
Brazilians will head to the polls on October 3 to elect a new president, the governors of the country’s 27 states and 513 members of the lower house of Congress, as well as two-thirds of the Senate and all state legislators.
